something found
by Elliewelly1
Summary: The Huntsman. No, that wasn't who he was. He was Graham: Lovely, kind Graham who had doomed himself to save her mother. The man whom she owed her life to. The man who was very much missing. AU from finale, what would've happened if they'd returned to FTL .


**Something Found**

This is what I imagine would happen if they had actually returned to FTL after the curse and Rumple hadn't gone all evil with returning magic and stuff. Do let me know what you think, this is my first ever OUAT fanfiction and I'm not sure if I should write more.

* * *

It's all rather surreal to Emma. All of them, including Henry, were celebrating the final defeat of Regina and her awful curse. Emma watched them from the sidelines with a fond smile on her face. Henry was rushing through the crowd of dancers, passing from one dance partner to another, an excited smile on his face. Mary Margaret... No, her Mother and her Father stayed as each others dance partners, barely letting go of each other. Emma had never seen a pair so happy or so in love. Snow White and Prince Charming. Huh, who would've ever believed it?

It suited them all. This happy ending in Fairy Tale Land. However, it didn't really suit her. Well, it wasn't all bad. But she wasn't the big dress and amazing hair updo kind of girl, who believed in true love and happy endings. It was as if everything that she had ever believed in and held true had been ripped out from beneath her. To be honest, it was all completely unsettling.

There was someone missing, though. She knew that, as she searched the crowd for that familiar face, only to find it wasn't there. Instead there was simply the happy, grinning faces of the townsfolk of Storybrooke who were now fairytale characters, apparently. Including herself. Including him.

"Mom?" Henry's voice floated through her reverie and she looked down the find he'd parted from the group and was now stood beside her. Emma felt that warmth of love and happiness settle in the bottom of her stomach when she heard that word. "Why aren't you happy?"

"I am." She told him honestly. Because she was. For them, not for her. "It's just... Not everything's been repaired, kid. It doesn't matter." Emma explained, and ruffled Henry's hair. He laughed and pushed her away.

"Is it The Huntsman?" Henry asked suddenly, head titled to the right slightly.

That struck a cord. The Huntsman. No, that wasn't who he was. He was Graham: Lovely, kind Graham who had doomed himself to save her mother. The man whom she owed her life to. The man who was very much missing.

But Emma couldn't say this out loud, so instead she crossed her arms across her chest and looked down at her feet, scowling at the glittery silver heels that she had been forced to wear by her Mother. "Yeah, kid." She whispered faintly, unimpressed that she was unable to control her emotions.

Henry grinned. "Don't you see it, Mom? He's not dead! The Evil Queen didn't get to him here, you just have to find him and return him his heart and everything will be okay!" He exclaimed excitedly, gaining suspicious looks from dancers passing by.

Unfortunately, her Mother and her Father had heard from their dancing spot nearby, and had instantly abandoned the celebrations to join their discussions. Emma groaned in frustration, she wasn't feeling her Mother's comforting words of wisdom right now, nor her bumbling Father's advice. They really didn't need to get involved. It wasn't like they were any help, anyway. Henry seemed to be the only one who spoke any sense around here.

"Graham's still alive?" Snow gasped, and Henry nodded in reply, a cheeky grin on his face. "Well, you must go find him at once, Emma!" Snow cried, reaching out for Emma's hand.

Emma stared at their intwined hands. It was still so odd, having a family, she'd been so used to being alone, convinced that nobody had every wanted her. Yet here they all were, and they had given her a chance to escape and prayed that she'd return to save her. They'd all placed their hope in her. That was new, but not unwelcome.

"Where do I start?" Emma found herself asking, and looked up from their hands and into her Mother's eyes.

Her Mother smiled and replied, "Well, the home of the huntsman, of course."

* * *

Surprisingly, Snow White had agreed to leave the celebrations to help Emma out. Charming had been rather hesitant about it all, but then Henry had started throwing a dozen questions about his sword-wielding abilties at him, and he was pleasantly distracted. Many noticed their exit, such as Ashley- No, _Cinderella;_ Ashley was a scared pregnant teenager who she had given advice to in the back of Granny's- but didn't comment. After all, Emma was the saviour, and they just wanted her to be happy with this new life, instead of feeling stuck with it.

More than anything, Emma wanted her red leather jacket back, and a pair of jeans. However, Snow forced her to be content with the fancy hunting clothing they wore, of which the jacket looked oddly like a real animals fur.

They began searching the forest the instant Emma had finished getting changed (The clothes here were awfully complicated), and Emma had to note that Snow did had amazing tracking abilities. Emma would blindly blunder about the forest in any direction she felt like, but Snow would grab her arm and pull her in the opposite direction for whatever reason it was Emma didn't understand, and hushed her whenever she stepped on a twig. Often, Emma wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Here she was, triapsing through a forest in a magical world looking for a man she had kissed in another world with her long time best friend who was now apparently her Mother. Not that much had changed in their relationship, apart from the odd feeling of safety she felt around Snow that had intensified the moment they had returned to Fairy Tale Land.

It was also odd to think that in the real world, she was just another part of a book. Another story. Her life, read as thousands as fiction. How... sad.

"Shh!" Snow hissed for what felt like the hundredth time as Emma stood on another twig yet again. "I'm sure I can hear growling."

"Growling?" Emma asked, voice an octave higher than it should be, and she was instantly on red alert.

Snow let out a small laugh, but her eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. "No, not serious growling... More playful." Snow decided, tilting her head slightly. Months of living in solitude in this forest had done wonders for her tracking skills. Suddenly, her eyes snapped to the left and she began running. "He's here! Over here!" Snow yelled over her shoulder to Emma, who hadn't moved.

At the sound of those words _He's here! Over here! _Emma darted after Snow. She wished that she could make sense of her thoughts as she ran as quick as her legs would allow her, so quickly her feet ached each time they bet against the leaf-covered ground and her lungs burned with the need of lungs. However her thoughts were so jumbled up, images of him, there, alive, heart beating- yet at the same time she was thinking absolutely nothing at all but the fact she needed _him._

Somehow, Emma had overtaken Snow by a few feet, and when she burst out into a clearing between two hedges, it was just her and a light blue stream and- _Oh, __Graham._

Graham. Real, alive, heart-beating Graham.

"Graham!" His name ripped from her lips, and if it had been with anyone else she would've been ashamed of how desperate and torn her voice sounded.

Instantly, he looked up from wrestling around with his friend, the wolf. His jaw grew slack and his eyes glazed over, and he stay stuck on his knees, immobile. Emma didn't care, she understood, as her rapidly beating heart seemed to almost burst from her chest. Understood why he couldn't move and why she couldn't help but stumble towards him clumsily, falling down to her knees in front of him, too. Completely unaware that her best friend, her Mother, the woman who he had spared, was watching them from the spot Emma had just stumbled from. She understood exactly why every story here involved true love and why it had hurt so much when he died and why it brought so much light back into her life to see him alive again. She understood everything.

"Emma." He whispered brokenly, and his eyes foccused again, on her face and the tears she hadn't realised were falling rapidly from her eyes. Slowly, he brought his hands to her face, as if to check that she was real. "You're back. Y- You're here."

Emma covered his rough hands with her own soft ones. "I'm here." She assured him softly, and smiled. A smile so similar to the one she had when Henry had woken from the dead.

And then he kissed her. Softly, calmly, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he continued to softly cradle her face. It was so right, she decided, as she opened her mouth and her tongue met his, causing a never-felt-before feeling to fizz through her veins. This was completely _right._

"I love you." He announced tenderly as they parted for air.

If it was at all possible, she cried harder. "I love you, too."

* * *

When they returned to the palace, most of the guests had already left for home. A home they'd lived 28 years without and she'd returned to them. Some were still lingering, eager to give more thanks to Emma, but at the sight of her; cheeks tear-stained and covered in mud, they decided that their thanks could wait the night.

Emma clutched on tightly to Graham's hand as they entered the palace, to find Prince Charming and Henry waiting for them. Her Father gave them an approving nod, eyes alight as Snow grinned estaticly at him from behind them. Henry, upon spotting them, let out a loud yell of triumph and launched himself into Graham's arms. Graham, surprised, caught him and laughed, still managing to hold onto Emma's hand. Emma watched the pair of them with nothing but awe and love shining in her eyes.

"You're back! This really is a happy ending, isn't it? We all have a family- I have Gramps and Grandma, and I have my Mom and you! Have I ever mentioned how _cool _it is that you're the huntsman? I wonder if you have better sword skills than Gramps. We'll have to check that out, won't we? Though you're probably much better using arrows, aren't you? You're completely useless at trying to poison people, by the way, I wouldn't ever recommend trying to do that again. Though I'm glad you are, otherwise Grandma would be dead and my Mom wouldn't be alive and neither would I, then none of this would've happened and _none _of us would've had a happy ending, so I suppose that we all really owe you a lot, not just my Mom, and..."

He was babbling, but it was completely adorable, and Emma didn't tell him to stop as they all linked hands and walked onwards through the castle, all listening completely to Henry and his babbling about how lucky they were.

(They really were awfully lucky).

* * *

Emma had never been in a serious relationship before, yet alone be an engaged princess due to marry a huntsman. It was all startlingly new, but she couldn't bring herself to find anything wrong with it. Not at all.

"Nervous?" Emma heard her Mother call from behind her, and Emma turned to find Snow standing in one of the extravagant doorways. She was smiling; proud.

Emma let out a chuckle. "No, I..." Emma shook her eyes, frowning. "I'm happy. I'm really, really happy."

Snow strode over to where Emma stood and fingered the short sleeve of Emma's dress. Quietly, she whispered, "I'm so happy you're happy, Emma."

"Oh, Mom." Emma mumbled tearfully. Since they had returned to Fairy Tale Land over a year ago, Snow and Emma's relationship had changed in its dynamic, to an odd yet heartwarming Mother-Daughter bond. Snow rarely ever mentioned the years she lost of Emma's, but when she did, her words were awfully heartbreaking. "It's not your fault."

Snow nodded, lips pressed tightly together. She continued to worry the sleeve between her fingers, not daring to look Emma in the eyes. "I know that, I do..." Snow paused, "But I can't help but wish that... That things had been different. Then again, if they were, you wouldn't have either Henry or Graham. So I suppose it has great rewards." Finally, Snow released the sleeve from her grip and looked into the eyes of her little girl. "Sometimes I dream of us with a different life. All the places we could've taken you here. Teaching you about magic, about the kingdom- Big parties on your birthday, spoiled to death on Christmas. A loving home and a kingdom that adored you. The life you deserved. But then I remember how I only had you for all of five minutes in my arms and I could barely kiss you goodbye because of how much I was crying, and I realise how brave you were... And... And that courage, Emma, that bravery that you have, I- I wouldn't want you to be any other way."

Although both Snow and Cinderella had warned her several times not to cry as her make-up wasn't waterproof, Emma couldn't help tearing up. "Mom... Mom, I-" Emma choked on her words, because she couldn't think of anything to say to that, so she pulled Snow into a tight hug and buried her face in her shoulder. "I love you, Mom. I really do." Emma told her strongly as she pulled away, which caused tears to glitter in Snow's eyes, as Emma barely ever said those words. But when she did, she meant them.

There was a knock at the door, which startled them from their moment. They both turned to find her Father at the doorway, grinning from ear-to-ear. "Um, as lovely as this is, we need to go."

Snow nodded and squeezed Emma's shoulders before letting go and moving past them. "Of course." She said, and gave Emma a reassuring smile. "I'll see you there."

Emma took a deep breath in a closed her eyes briefly, trying to gather her thoughts.

"You okay?" She heard Charming ask softly.

Emma nodded and opened her eyes again, to find him waiting patiently beside her, offering her his arm. With shaking hands, she wrapped one hand around the crook of his elbow and held onto him for support as they walked away from her room and towards the large hall. "Yeah, I-" Emma began to answer, but as they approached the large door to the halls and she heard the music playing, her grip on her Father tightened. "Don't tell Mom, but I am nervous as hell."

Her Father laughed. "Yeah, I was too. Extremely nervous, actually. But I loved your Mom, and that made everything okay. You feel like that with Graham, don't you?"

Slowly, Emma began to relax and allowed her grip on her Father to be loose again. "Yeah... I do." She answered him softly, and he gave her one last grin before the doors before them opened.

For a moment, Emma was completely thrown off by the sheer amount of people who had decided to attend- Kingdoms, probably. All of her relaxation flew out of the window, and she was fairly certain she was going to turn and run away from all of this, but then- Oh. Graham.

He was stood at the end of the aisle, with Henry holding their rings on a cushion beside him, both grinning broadly. Suddenly, she couldn't see anything else but her family and everything else around her faded away to the background. The aisle was suddenly too long, her Father's pace suddenly too slow. And she knew that this was right. Nothing was going to change, nothing was going to go wrong. They'd still never understand how to rule a kingdom and he would hopelessly try to teach her how to track and she would hopelessly try to teach him how to make the perfect cup of cocoa. They would still love each other just the same and once a month they would still go on their weekend trips into the forest where he still felt he belonged. They would still be _them._

Graham was breathless. His eyes studied her intensely, eyes bright with happiness and ruby red lips grinning. Emma's long blonde hair was pulled into a long messy braid on her right side, tiny pink flowers woven throughout it. He was pleasantly surprised with her choice in dress. It clung to her body, to her waist, but then loosely fell to the floor and trailed long behind her, shimmering in the sunlight. The colour of wolf's fur.

"Beautiful." Was all that he could whisper as she reached where he was standing, to which she faintly blushed and grinned.

And they were happy.


End file.
